Records and Information: Failure to Keep Records

TMA70/S12B(5)

TMA70/Sch1A/Para.2A(4)

The legislation allows us to impose a specific penalty of up to £3,000 for any failure to maintain or preserve adequate records to support a claim whether it is made in a return or outside a return.

Each case should be carefully reviewed before deciding what penalty, if any, should be imposed. In practice, we use a sliding scale tariff reflecting the degree of seriousness and will take into account the circumstances surrounding the failure.

In many cases it will be sufficient to give a warning that a penalty will be imposed should the failure re-occur at some future date. However, in cases of proven deliberate destruction of records, we may impose the full penalty without warning.

We will not impose a penalty, under this legislation, for any failure that occurred before 6 April 1996.